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The Cage (episode)
While investigating an 18-year-old distress call, Captain Pike is captured and tested by beings who can project powerfully realistic illusions. Summary on the bridge]] In a high-stress situation, The [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] encounters a strange space distortion on a direct collision course which turns out to be the result of an old radio distress signal from the planet Talos IV, after which Captain Pike heads to his quarters where he uses a communicator on a tabletop to call for the ship's doctor. The doctor enters and oddly fixes Pike a martini, explaining that "sometimes a man will tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor", whereupon he asks if the captain is still thinking about a recent mission that ended in a confrontation causing a few deaths. Pike explains that he's thinking of retiring because he's tired of deciding "who lives and who dies". Their conversation is interrupted by a transmission from the bridge by Spock. Pike heads back to the bridge, where their investigation of the star system the transmission came from as well as the transmission itself has given them enough data to plot a specific planetary destination and basic course of action. The ship then heads to warp 7 and eventually reaches orbit. Upon investigation of the planet by a landing party lead by Pike, the makeshift campsite of a disheveled group of male scientists from the crashed [[SS Columbia|SS Columbia]] is discovered. The scientists are explaining that they were on an expedition for the American Continent Institute, when Pike notices a shyly advancing beautiful young woman among the crowd. One of the scientists tells Pike that she is Vina, a child born almost immediately after the group had crash-landed on the planet. Vina behaves very strangely, telling Pike that he is an "excellent specimen". It is at this point that an eerie group of aliens with huge pulsating heads are shown watching the landing party through a viewing screen. The Doctor then interrupts with his report on the physical condition of the survivors whom he says to be in suspiciously excellent health. The scientists claim it has something to do with their "secret", and tell Pike he ought to go with Vina and judge it for himself. Distracted by the woman, Pike is led into an area away from the others where Vina suddenly vanishes after saying he is "a perfect choice". The scientists nearby all vanish as well. Almost as quickly, the aliens with large craniums come out of a hidden doorway in a nearby rock face and shoot Pike with some sort of stun beam which causes him to collapse, whereupon they carry him away. Witnessing the abduction, the landing party take out their laser pistols (not phasers) and fire at the doorway to no avail. Spock then reports the incident to the ship via his communicator. Pike later wakes up inside a small section of an underground cave blocked off by a transparent partition. He then notices several differing creatures inside a series of identical enclosures along a hallway of sorts, when suddenly several of the same species of aliens who abducted him arrive. They proceed to make callous scientific observations about him through the use of telepathy, referring to him as "the specimen" and then state that they will soon begin experimenting on him. enjoy an illusory picnic outside Mojave]] They try several illusions on Pike to make him interested in Vina, all based on Pike's memories. These include an unfortunate mission to Rigel VII and a pleasant picnic outside Pike's hometown of Mojave as well as tempting scenario in which Vina appears as a dancing orion slave girl. Through the course of these events, Pike determines that the huge headed aliens, the Talosians, have severely weakened their world and therefore themselves due to the the consequences of their mental powers. They want Captain Pike and Vina as breeding stock for a new, stronger race to repopulate the barren planet surface, which was ravaged by nuclear warfare. When these illusions don't work, the Talosians transport Number One and Yeoman Colt into Pike's cell to give him a choice of women. ]] Having also determined that strong primal emotions cancel out the Talosian mental powers, Pike uses this to his advantage. Taking a Talosian magistrate hostage, he escapes with his crew to the surface. There, the Talosians confront Pike with their demands. Pike refuses to cooperate, to the point where he prepares to overload his weapon and destroy himself and his shipmates to prevent this from happening. At this point, the magistrate's aides arrive, presenting the summary of the ship's records. To their dismay, the Talosians learn that humans possess a strong hatred of captivity, even when pleasant, making them too dangerous for their needs. Pike asks if mutual understanding or trade might not accomplish the restoration of the planet for the Talosians, but is told that humans would learn their power of illusion – to their destruction, as well as that of the Talosians. Pike and the female crew members are free to go, but Vina (despite her attraction to Pike) decides to stay on the planet, because underneath the Talosian illusions, she is badly deformed from the crash of the Columbia. The Talosians agree to take care of Vina and release the other crew, providing Vina with an illusionary Captain Pike to keep her company. Pike returns to the bridge having apparently regained his vigor for duty, and the Enterprise departs the Talosian homeworld. Memorable Quotes "What the devil are you putting in that thing – ice?" "Who wants a warm martini?" "What makes you think I need one?" "Sometimes, a man will tell his bartender things he'll never tell his doctor." : - Pike and Dr. Boyce "Now you're starting to sound like a doctor... ''bartender." "''Take your choice. We both get the same kind of customers – the living and the dying." : - Pike and Dr. Boyce "No, don't talk – don't say anything... I'm filling my mind with a picture of beating their huge, misshapen heads to ''pulp!. Thoughts so primitive they block out everything else; I'm filling my mind with hate!" "''How long can you block your thoughts; a few minutes? An hour?" : - Pike and Vina "I'm going to gamble you're too intelligent to kill for no reason at all (tries the weapons). On the other hand, I've got a reason. I'm willing to bet you've created an illusion that this laser is empty. I think it just blasted a hole through that window and you're keeping us from seeing it. Do you want me to test my theory out on your head?" : - Pike, to the Magistrate "This is the female's ''true appearance." "''They found me in the wreckage; a dying lump of flesh. They rebuilt me -- everything works. But they had never seen a human. They had no guide for putting me back together..." "It was necessary to convince you her desire to stay is an honest one." "You'll give her back her illusion of beauty?" "And more." : - Vina, Magistrate and Pike Continuation Afterwards, the Federation imposed General Order 7 on the Talos system, preventing anyone from ever approaching the planet again under penalty of death. (TOS: "The Menagerie, Part II") :Several non-canon stories in comics and novels have chronicled continuations of this story: *Star Trek: Starfleet Academy: Issue *Star Trek Annual (DC volume 1) *Pocket TOS: "Legacy" Background Landmarks * This was the first ever episode of Star Trek produced. NBC rejected the pilot but made the extraordinary move to order a second pilot ("Where No Man Has Gone Before"). Almost all footage of this episode was later reused in "The Menagerie Part I" and "Part II." * The first filmed scene from "The Cage" (and of Star Trek) -- the cut with Dr. Boyce and Captain Pike sharing a martini -- was filmed on Friday, . Cast * Leonard Mudie, who has one line of dialogue as one of the Columbia survivors, was a veteran of dozens of films dating back to the 1930s. He was 81 when this sequence was filmed, and he died the next year. He is the second-oldest actor ever to appear on the original Star Trek and the first to pass away. * In one brief part of the first transporation sequence, the transporter chief's assistant is a man wearing glasses, but the scene changes and he appears without them. As far as is known, he is the only starfleet member ever so depicted until Kirk later acquires an antique pair in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. * Clegg Hoyt played the transporter chief, Pitcairn, but his voice was dubbed in by Bob Johnson. Mr. Johnson was the voice on the tape (and disc) in the TV series Mission: Impossible. * Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Majel Barrett (Number One) are the only actors to appear in both this episode and the final episode "Turnabout Intruder". * Leonard Nimoy is the only actor to appear in both this episode and the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before". * This is Nimoy's first Star Trek appearance. Malachi Throne (Voice of the Keeper) was also with him during his final Star Trek appearance, the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Unification II". * After the crew beams down to the planet surface of Talos IV, Spock is seen limping as he walks toward the singing plants. It's been mistakenly stated that Nimoy had suffered an injury prior to filming. In fact, Nimoy's limp here is feigned, and is a small plot point in the script. The original story for "The Cage" indicated that Spock, Jose Tyler and others had been wounded in the fighting on Rigel VII - events which took place just prior to the action in "The Cage." In the actual script, the fighting is referred to, but it's never directly indicated that Spock had been injured; the closest reference being Captain Pike's asking of Mr. Spock and Tyler if they "feel up to it" (joining the landing party). (The Making of Star Trek) Story and production * The captain's name was changed constantly throughout the writing of the story and script. First it was Robert M. April, then it was Christopher Pike, then as late as , in the Second Revised Final Script, it was James Winter. Seven days later, when filming began, it had been changed back to Christopher Pike. * The ape creature seen in the Talos zoo originally appeared in The Outer Limits episode "Fun and Games", looking quite a bit different, and was created by Janos Prohaska. The owl-like bird creature seen down the corridor also appears in an episode of that series. Several of Prohaska's creations would be modified and make appearances in episodic Star Trek. * An imprisoned species is seen only by its shadow -- the last cage in the zoo contains a large crab-like creature with huge claws. In Gene Roddenberry's original conception, the Talosians were crab-like aliens. This would have been prohibitively expensive and probably unconvincing, so they became humanoids instead. * The Talosian seen down the corridor as Pike looks at all the imprisoned creatures was a midget. This gave the appearance of great length to what was actually a short, forced-perspective hallway. * The episode is difficult to reconcile with canon in many instances. For example, Spock smiles and uses several human expressions such as "buzzing about down there", which he seldom did in subsequent episodes and films. * In addition, Pike tells the Talosians that he's from a stellar group "at the other end of this galaxy," which, in modern Trek parlance, infers that Talos IV is deep in the Beta, Gamma or Delta Quadrants. However, this does not seem likely, especially because the SS Columbia was only lost for 18 years and, having traveled at less than light speed (see next), must be relatively close to Earth. * Tyler implies that faster-than-light (FTL) travel is relatively new. He tells one of the scientists that they can get back to Earth quickly. "The time barrier's been broken! Our new ships can ..." Earlier, in dialogue used only once in the series, Pike orders FTL speed to Talos IV by saying, "Our time warp, factor 7." Basically, this establishes that warp speed is not only FTL, but also it "negates" the time dilation effect about which Einstein theorized in his Special Theory of Relativity. Of course, later Trek canon will establish that Zefram Cochrane "discovered" the space warp in the mid-21st century. "The Cage" takes place two centuries later, in 2254. * Star Trek: Enterprise appears to contradict some elements introduced in "The Cage." For example, Starfleet is using phase pistols in 2151, while Pike's crew is only using primitive "laser pistols" a century later. Also, the Enterprise NX-01 can fire phase cannons and photonic torpedoes directly from its hull, while Pike's crew can only "transfer ship's power" to a ground-based laser cannon to blast away at the Talosian mountain. * Spock's cry of "Switch to rockets, we're blasting out!" is very anachronistic – there are no direct references to rocket engines in the episodes to come. * Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson make the only contemporary presidential appearances in an original series episode, as images in the Talosian download of the ship's computer. * When doing makeup tests for Vina as an Orion slave girl, the film kept coming back without the green skin being visible. Puzzled by this, the makeup crew kept painting the poor actress again and again with other shades of green, hoping that it would become visible on film. Afterwards, they discovered that the film processing lab was recolourising her because they didn't know she was meant to be green. Sets and props * The briefing room, transporter room and bridge in this segment are identical to the sets used in "Where No Man Has Gone Before". * As opposed to the electronic clipboards used in the regular series, Pike uses a very 20th century metal clipboard. A television also appears in his quarters. * A "captain's hat" can be glimpsed in passing on top of that television, although Pike never wore it. And after this pilot, the hat was never seen again. Landing party jackets also vanished after "The Cage", but returned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Star Trek: Enterprise was the only other television Star Trek that depicted hats and a variety of environment-specific outerwear being regularly issued to crewmembers. * The bed in Pike's quarters was way too short for Jeff Hunter. His feet are extending well beyond the end of the mattress as he briefly reclines on it. * In the original story for "The Cage," there was an opening scene in the hangar bay where Pike, whose character at this stage was a tad older than later written, was inspecting new crew members. He remarks disapprovingly to the doctor at one point about the young age of some of these. "Something," Roddenberry later wrote in a memo, "that Jim Kirk, the boy wonder of the academy, never would have done." In this same scene (which was never filmed due to time and budget restrictions) Pike sees off the ship a number of badly wounded crewmen. Amongst these is an unhurt officer whom Pike (then Capt. April in the script) is sending back in disgrace, because he fired on friendly aliens. The officer argues that they were monstrous in appearance; how could he know they were intelligent enough to have weapons? These protests are met by the captain's stern dismissal: "Get off my ship Mister." (The Making of Star Trek) Miscellaneous * Shifts in picture and sound quality (characteristic of generational loss) can be noticed throughout the episode because negatives and audio masters of scenes that were not used in "The Menagerie" are lost. The missing scenes were restored by combining a transfer of properly stored film from "The Menagerie" with clips from a color print of the original pilot. Early home video releases of "The Cage" used black-and-white footage because even the color print was lost for many years. * The opportunity to broadcast "The Cage" in its original form came when production of Star Trek: The Next Generation was interrupted by a writer's strike in 1988. Presented during a special that also promoted the upcoming theatrical release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the broadcast filled in for two of the four hours missing from TNG's truncated second season. * "The Cage" may have been inspired by the Twilight Zone episode, "People Are Alike All Over", which also featured a telepathic Susan Oliver tricking a human (Roddy McDowall) into a zoo cage. http://tv.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=131618 * Footage of the asteroids from the beginning of this episode is reused later in "Mudd's Women" and "The Doomsday Machine". * The opening, establishing shot of the Enterprise is reused in several early episodes: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Corbomite Maneuver", "Mudd's Women", "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X". It's inarguably the best visual effect of the Enterprise created for "The Cage." The starship, traveling at warp speed, is depicted in a unique effect that was never re-created for the series: The camera "sidles up" to the Enterprise model and "swoops over" the top of the primary hull. Combined with this shot, however, are two space effects: One of a stationary star field and the other of a star field moving rapidly from right to left. The completed effect is meant to suggest that "local" stars are flying past the Enterprise while the great "backdrop" of the galaxy remains motionless. * CBS was approached first with Star Trek, but they passed on it for another sci-fi program called Lost in Space. Ironically, they are the current owners of the Star Trek franchise. * Although male voices were dubbed in for the Talosians, all the Talosian actors were actually women. * Throughout most of the first and second seasons, the "singing plant" sound heard on Talos IV would become the standard background noise on various planets. Beginning with "Spectre of the Gun", a different, warbly sound was used for a number of the remaining shows. The sound was used as the transporter beam sound effect in the series proper. Production Timeline * Series proposal, "Star Trek is...": - Mentions story idea "The Next Cage" * Pilot story outline: * First draft script: * Revised script: * Filming began: * Studio rejection: * Premiere airdate: * VHS: * First Region 1 DVD: * Second Region 1 DVD: Links and References *VHS edition available through Amazon under ISBN 6300213056. Starring as young Lt. Spock]] *Jeffrey Hunter as Christopher Pike Guest Star *Susan Oliver as Vina Co-Starring *Leonard Nimoy as Spock *M. Leigh Hudec (Majel Barrett) as Number One *John Hoyt as Dr. Phillip Boyce *Peter Duryea as José Tyler *Laurel Goodwin as J.M. Colt Uncredited Co-Stars *Meg Wyllie as The Keeper *Jon Lormer as Dr. Theodore Haskins *Clegg Hoyt as Pitcairn *Malachi Throne as The Keeper's voice *Mike Dugan as The Kaylar *Georgia Schmidt as First Talosian *Robert C. Johnson as First Talosian's voice *Serena Sande as Second Talosian *Felix Silla as a Talosian *Barker as a Talosian *Adam Roarke as Garrison *Leonard Mudie as a Columbia survivor #2 (Unnamed humans) *Anthony Jochim as a Columbia survivor #3 *Ed Madden as the Enterprise geologist (USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel) *Robert Phillips as the space officer on Orion colony *Joseph Mell as the trader on Orion colony *Janos Prohaska as the Anthropoid Ape/Humanoid Bird (Aliens) Production staff *Robert Herron - Pike's stunt double (credited as Bob Herron) *Frank da Vinci - Stunts *Penny Romans - Choreography for Susan Oliver's dance *Pato Guzman - Production Design *Alexander Courage - Music References American Continent Institute; class M; ''Columbia'', SS; Earth; horse; human; hyperdrive; laser; laser weapons; martini; micro record; Mojave; nitrogen; nuclear weapons; Orion; Orion slave girl; Orion colony; oxygen; radio; radio-interference distress call; Rigel; Rigel VII; Talos star group; Talos IV; Talosians; Talosian singing plant; Tango; tape; time barrier; time warp factor; Vega; Vega colony; Vulcan; warp drive; yeoman Other references Africa; Alaska; altimeter; American Civil War; American Revolution; Antarctica; Arctic Circle; Asia; Australia; Canada; Delaware; diaphragm; Dwight Eisenhower; Europe; eye; flower; gall bladder; gamma ray spectrometer; intestine; Japan; John F. Kennedy; kudu; Abraham Lincoln; liver; Luna; lung; Mariner 2; Mars; Maryland; Mercury; USS Monitor (ironclad); Nimbus 1; North America; North Pole; optic nerve; orbit; orbiting geophysical observatory; orbiting solar observatory; Pioneer 5; polar orbit; President of the United States; probe; Ranger; Ranger 3; Ranger block 1 type; Ranger block 2 type; rib; rocket; satellite; Saturn V; skull; star chart; stomach; Sol; Sol system; South America; South Pole; Soviet Union; United States; Venus; Virginia; CSS Virginia; George Washington; Washington, DC; wildebeest External Links * Cage, The de:Der Käfig es:The Cage fr:The Cage nl:The Cage sv:The Cage